Not so Black and White
by whitetiger91
Summary: "Evans, he's like family to me- he's more of a brother than even my own blood." Why did Lily finally stop thinking James was so arrogant? Could it be that an unusually serious Sirius managed to change such a stubborn mind in just one night? This is my take on how their romance began, contributed to and written for VoicesOffCamera from the Diagon Alley II forum.


**Not so Black and White**

**_A/N: I will not make any profit from this story, nor do I own any of the characters or ideas associated with the wonderful world of Harry Potter._**

**_Unfortunately, this little ficlet/ one-shot has not yet been beta'd, so I will fix any errors as soon as I can. _**

**_This story was written for VoicesOffCamera from the Diagon Alley II forum. The pairing Lily/James was chosen as was the idea behind this story in that Lily formed a friendship with Sirius before realising that James wasn't all that bad- so a big thanks and I hope you enjoy my take on it._**

**_Thank you for everyone who reads this story and please enjoy! (P.S. As of late, I've been finding my endings weak and storylines a little meh, but I hope this isn't too bad or cheesy or unrealistic!)_**

"Where is he? He's always late when it's important," Lily Evans huffed, folding her arms tightly over her chest as she tapped her foot impatiently.

"Dunno, he said he'd be here so he'll be here. Just give him a minute."

"I'm always 'just giving him a minute'. It's high time he starts taking his responsibilities seriously- I bet he has some lame excuse of course," she rolled her green eyes as she leant against the wall.

"His excuses are bloody brilliant!"

"Of course you would think that."

Lily rolled her eyes again, surveying the boy sitting on the marble floor. His shaggy head was bent as he produced a small pocket knife and, with care, poked the tip of the blade around the sole of his shoe. He was humming an odd tune as he extracted the pebbles that had become wedged into the shoe's base. She clicked her tongue in disapproval, debating whether or not she should confiscate the knife.

She had been waiting for James Potter outside the headmaster's office when Sirius Black had come whistling down the hallway, a large smile upon his face. He had simply bowed mockingly when he had seen her, before sliding down the opposite wall- no explanation had been offered as to why James had not been with him.

His non-chalant attitude had annoyed her to no end. Really, why couldn't any of their group take things seriously? Life was one big joke to them, and now James was late for their meeting with Dumbledore, meaning that she would now have to wait with him before beginning her nightly patrol.

Watching, appalled, as Sirius began to use the knife to clean the dirt from underneath his fingernails, Lily cleared her throat, "So what are you doing here? Last I checked you weren't a prefect."

Sirius gave a bark of laughter as he replied, "Thank Merlin for that! I dunno what Prongs was thinking, agreeing to be Head Boy. Anyway, if you must know, I've got a detention."

"That's something we can agree on. Why am I not surprised?" she shook her head, not astonished that her suspicions were right.

Sirius got away with many things, but sometimes he would push a teacher too far. Evidently, whatever he had done was bad enough to have landed him in need of the Headmaster's reprimand- even if Dumbledore was often considered a lenient disciplinarian.

Minutes ticked by as the pair remained silent. She felt herself begin to get bored of waiting for James, continuously cursing him under her breath for his tardiness. Deciding that she may as well try to be civil to the only company present, she turned to Sirius.

"I'm not sure that I really want to know, but what did you do this time?"

The boy had moved on to etching his name on the floor as he shrugged, "Don't remember."

"You don't remember? How could you not remember?"

"I dunno. We did a lot of things today- too many to keep track of. Snivellus probably squealed on me," his brow furrowed as the tip of his knife bent. Looking at the damage caused by the hard floor's surface, he sighed and placed it back into a pocket of his robes.

"I suppose Potter thought it was hilarious to torture the poor boy again?" she asked drily.

"You should really give Prongs a break, Evans. It was only me this time… and Wormtail."

"Who's Wormtail? Whatever, I don't need to know. You boys are such jerks- you're always picking on Severus when he doesn't deserve it."

"Oh c'mon, wake up Evans! Have you forgotten what he called you?"

"No, I haven't. But I don't think that always trying to sabotage him and giving him hell twenty-four seven makes you lot any better. In fact, Potter should know by now how pig-headed and pretentious I think he is enough to not feel the need to go after him."

"Are you being serious right now? You're the one who needs to get off her high hippogriff! Prongs has only ever tried to defend you- he's not that bad. In fact, if you would stop acting like such a know-it-all, you would see that he is actually a pretty decent bloke."

"I am not a know-it-all! It may be news to you, but some people actually care about doing well in school. I think you're forgetting that up until a few years ago, I was the target of many of his pranks- or was I mistaken that he used to dip my pigtails into his ink pot during History of Magic?"

She felt her cheeks burn crimson in annoyance and tried to calm her breathing. It didn't help that Sirius immediately broke into a grin, smiling at the memory.

"Oh yeah, I remember that. That was great," he chuckled, stretching his long legs out.

Lily sighed, knowing that it was no use arguing with him- any attempts at polite conversation was utterly useless when it came to Sirius.

"Professor Dumbledore sends his apologies, Miss Evans- unfortunately he has been unexpectedly caught up with some Ministry business. He asks that you patrol the left wing first, as planned, as soon as Mister Potter joins you," Lily nodded her thanks at the gargoyle whom guarded Dumbledore's office.

Many of the students found the stone creature to be rather brusque and rude, where as she found that it was always polite with her- probably because she had never tried to charm an ink moustache onto its face. She felt a little better when it turned its large head to Sirius and snapped at him to tuck his shirt into his trousers in preparation for his appointment with Dumbledore. In turn, the boy snapped the middle finger of his right hand upwards and smirked as the creature scoffed at his cheek.

She closed her eyes, sighing as she wondered where James was. She really wanted to get the shift over and done with so that she could change out of her uniform and into something warmer. Winter had not long made its icy presence known to the castle, carpeting the grounds and rooftop in a thick blanket of white snow. She longed for her cosy bed up in the Gryffindor tower and began to think of the many hexes she wanted to use on James at that moment- transfiguring him into a pocket watch seemed like a fantastic idea to warn him not to be late in the future.

Evidently, Sirius had become bored as he let out an obnoxiously loud yawn. When he saw that she was watching him in contempt, he proceeded to do an even louder one, stretching his arms high above his head and flexing his feet.

Lily ignored him, subtly checking that her own nails were still clean. She would not give him the satisfaction of annoying her again.

With the silence that settled over the pair, she could just make out a whooshing noise as owls swooped on unwitting prey outside. She had always wanted an owl of her own, preferably one that was the colour of the white powder outside. Lily's roommate, Alice, often allowed her to use her owl to send any letters home when necessary. She had once admired the look of the tawny's unique hazel eyes, until she realised that they reminded her of similar coloured eyes belonging to the bane of her existence. As such, she hoped to one day own an owl that also had blue or amber eyes.

Unfortunately, her parents did not think that getting her a pet of that variety would be a good idea. It wasn't because of the mess they feared it would make, but rather, they both thought that it would be best to wait until her sister left the family home. Over the years, Petunia had failed to grow accepting of Lily's magic, and having an owl in the house during the school holidays would only serve as a constant reminder to her older sister that she did not possess the same abilities or talent.

"Sooo…." Sirius interrupted her thoughts, unnecessarily drawing out the word, "what have you got planned for Christmas?"

"You really want to know?" she shot a disgruntled look at him, not ready for more insults to be thrown her way.

"Forget it. I was just trying to be nice for a change," he folded his arms and looked away.

She mentally kicked herself for being so rude, having not expected Sirius to be so…serious, or genuine. Recovering quickly, she tried to set things straight, not comfortable that he was now being the polite one.

"No, no, sorry I just-uh, well, I'm going home. My parents usually put on a large feast and some of our cousins, aunts and uncles come over. It's actually pretty fun," she smiled as she thought of the prospect of tasting some of her mother's famous plum pudding.

"Sounds nice," he sighed.

"Yeah, it'll be good to visit before summer. What about you? Aren't you going home?"

"What- to the House of the nutcase Blacks? I don't think so," he shook his head ruefully, a scowl beginning to mar his handsome features.

"Oh… but won't your mother miss you?"

"That hag? Ha! That's a good one. No, I'd much rather give a dementor a kiss than that woman, nevertheless return home for Christmas."

Lily felt worried, not sure how anyone could speak of their own family that way. She watched as Sirius pulled his pocket knife back out, only to grimace as he remembered that it was broken. He placed it back underneath his cloak and looked around the hallway for something else to district him.

She felt a little guilty at having made him become so forlorn, so decided upon taking another approach.

"Well, I guess Hogwarts would be nice over Christmas. You might even be able to spend time with your brother- Regulus, isn't it?"

"That slimy git? No, he's probably going home. He's my dear mother's favourite," he glowered at a point on the wall to the side of her head before looking at her, "you probably wouldn't understand though. I'm sure your parents can't wait for you to come back."

She groaned, now irritated- of course the boy would assume that her life was perfect. She didn't like the way he snapped at her, and so she straightened her back and prepared to correct him.

"Well, if you must know, yes, my parents will be happy to have me back. That doesn't mean though that my older sister will be happy to see me. You're not the only one who doesn't get along with their family."

"Oh yeah? What, did she steal your hairbrush or something?"

"No, don't be stupid."

"Then what? Did she tell on you for not making your bed one morning? Poor little Lily wasn't so perfect and big bad sister dobbed on you," he curled his hands into fists and mockingly wiped his eyes.

She felt herself growing steadily more annoyed at the boy's need to feel sorry for himself.

"If you must know, my sister doesn't like that I'm a witch. I can't do anything at home that is in the slightest bit related to magic- she literally storms off whenever I try to discuss what is happening at school. When I received my Head Girl badge at the beginning of the year, she locked herself in her room and refused to come out until my mum made me hide it away in my sock draw. And now, on top of it all, she'll be bringing her fat, ugly, uncouth walrus of a fiancée to Christmas dinner and I have to pretend that I've been away at some prestigious muggle boarding school, all because she fears that he will run away if he realises she's related to a 'freak' like me. So yes, I know what it's like to not completely look forward to going home."

She felt her face redden and took a few more calming breaths. Her heart thrummed wildly in her chest at having finally ranted about her sister. She looked at Sirius, challenging him to say that it wasn't that bad, only to open her mouth in surprise as he winked.

"You didn't hide your badge in your panty draw then?"

"Ugh! You are so… infuriating!"

He let out another bark of laughter and, now smirking, turned his grey eyes upon her again.

"Oh Evans, I must say, I'm glad to finally see you get so worked up. I was beginning to worry that the only person who could do that to you was Prongs. It was refreshing- you should do it more often."

She couldn't believe the way Sirius could so easily change his attitude. She refused to meet his eyes and huffed audibly. Not knowing where else to look, she peeked at the watch on her small wrist and huffed again, "Where is he?"

Sirius didn't seem to hear her question, however, as he mumbled something under his breath quietly, no longer smiling.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I said- I still don't believe that your Christmas will be so bad. At least your sister has never tried to kill you."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"No, why would you say that?"

The way he affixed her with a blank stare sent shivers down her spine. She tried to focus her own gaze on the flickering light of a torch burning brightly nearby, but found herself drawn to his face.

"No, I don't have any sisters. I bet you remember my sweet cousin Bellatrix though, don't you?"

Lily had never spoken to the girl, but she immediately recognised her name. She was quite a pretty witch, with an envious mane of long, ebony curls and full pink lips. She was often seen hanging around various other Slytherins, including Mulciber and Avery- both of whom often received detentions from her for picking on younger students and entering the Restricted Section of the library without permission. She shivered as she remembered having once caught the latter boy with a book on how to create inferi, not wanting to think what he would have wanted it for.

She nodded her head at Sirius in response, who grimaced knowingly. Deciding that perhaps he did deserve to brood a little bit over his situation, she tried again to brighten his prospects.

"Well, Dumbledore did say that he needed the prefects to help with the decorating of the castle. You'll get to see the large trees they'll put in the hall, and I think the House Elves have a special dinner menu prepared."

"Look, you don't need to try and make me feel better, I'm honestly alright. Besides, Prongs offered to have me stay at his house again- he's already arranged the details with his parents."

"He did?" she was surprised at what he had said, not thinking that it sounded like James at all.

"'course he did. You may think he's a prat, but he really does have everyone's best interests at heart."

She shifted uncomfortably, thinking about what she had said about James before. Still, she had never witnessed the boy ever being so thoughtful before, and quickly convinced herself that he must have had an ulterior motive.

"Sure, he might have offered. He probably just wanted to stop you from moping around though, or you hinted something and he knew that you're probably one of the only people he can't say no to-"

"No, I didn't even know about it. He surprised me yesterday morning, said he wrote a letter to his parents explaining everything. They weren't too thrilled about me when I first met them a while ago, but since then, he's made sure that they've treated me like a son."

"Oh," the embarrassment continued to grow within her, but she was determined to expose James as the selfish boy she knew him to be, "but what if he just wanted company over the holidays? He doesn't have any siblings and I can't imagine a week with old- with elderly people would be too invigorating for someone like him."

Sirius lifted an eyebrow, looking at her in disbelief. "Do you honestly believe that? He knew that I would be miserable hanging around here whilst everyone else was off enjoying their lives- he could have easily just left me here, but no; he insisted that I spend time with people who actually care about me. In fact, all he ever has done has been to look out for me and the others," his face was determined as his volume increased a little, "When Wormtail… Peter… threw up in front of the Great Hall and everyone laughed at him, he made sure to throw up himself," Lily felt sick at this notion, though allowed him to continue, "and managed to actually make it look cool. When Moony told us that he- well, he's always been loyal to Remus, and he would never turn his back on the guy when most of the population would," he quickly stopped whatever he had been allowed to say, and paused to exhale.

"And when we leave Hogwarts, he and I are going to get a place together so that I don't ever have to go back to my home, even though I probably won't be able to contribute any gold to it. Evans, he's like family to me- he's more of a brother than even my own blood."

Lily looked down, twisting her hands together. Listening to Sirius talk about him, she had begun to realise that she had poorly misjudged James. She couldn't even bring herself to laugh at the irony that it was his best friend, the biggest pain of the school, second only to James, that had made her feel so guilty. In the back of her mind she could tell that Sirius wasn't having her on either, for the boy was infamous for his preference of using his good looks and charm to get his way; he never used the sincere expression he had been wearing to convince someone that they were wrong, even if that person was actually right.

She continued to fiddle with her hands, feeling bad, as Sirius' face softened.

"Look, I'm not trying to get you to fall in love with the boy- I know that he can be a bit of a wanker sometimes, heck, that's why we're friends. Everyone has their flaws. I'm just saying that he's got more of a good heart than you give him credit for and that I wish you would go a little easier on him. He's only ever wanted to please you this year."

She didn't know how to respond and simply nodded her head. Luckily, she didn't have to think of a better answer as the gargoyle made its presence known again.

"He's ready for you now, Mister Black. Remember not to stick any gum on the stairs as you go up this time, if that's not too much trouble?"

Sirius rolled his eyes, a large grin plastered on his face once again. Not for the first time that night, Lily was surprised at how fast he managed to cheer up- it was even harder to process right then as she knew that she wouldn't be anywhere near as happy to be visiting the headmaster for a detention.

He took his time to stand up, making sure to stretch his arms and legs again as the gargoyle tutted, "Hurry up sonny, Dumbledore doesn't have all night, you know? It's about time they give me a companion to help deal with you."

He ignored it, grinning cheekily at Lily as he gave her another low bow.

"See you around, Evans. Always a pleasure," he resumed whistling as he stepped onto the circular staircase that would deliver him to his fate.

"Good luck," she gave him a slight wave in return before he disappeared out of view.

Perhaps James wasn't the only one she had misjudged that night.

She hastened to adjust her uniform, patting out the wrinkles that had formed from leaning against the stone wall. She had heard heavy footsteps pounding towards her, and didn't want to appear as though she had been enjoying her wait. Schooling her face into a light frown, she quickly folded her arms over her chest as James came into view.

"I'm so sorry Lily, I-"

"Save it. Let's just get this done, ok? I want to get to bed soon."

"Seriously though, I didn't mean to-"

"It's ok, honestly," as she saw his eyebrows shoot upwards into his tousled hair, she quickly added, "but if you are late next time I'll hex you into the next century, got it?"

"Got it."

"Well, let's go," she smirked inside as James quickly matched his pace to hers, obviously unwilling to begin an argument.

They walked down the hall together in silence, Lily thinking over the strange conversation she and Sirius had had. She was no longer quite so bothered by the way James walked so close to her, almost as though he was trying to protect her from any wayward students who didn't want to be caught out of bed without a fight. Part of her wondered how long the feeling would last, sure that he and Sirius would soon do something to change her mind, again.


End file.
